


Far Stronger Than Common Joys

by zarabithia



Series: Mercy  Universe [4]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Pre-New 52
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-07
Updated: 2007-07-07
Packaged: 2019-05-20 20:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14901533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: All Robins are forged from tragedy.  Lian isn't an exception to this legacy.





	Far Stronger Than Common Joys

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Connor asks, brushing the sides of her face with the tips of his fingers, where her mask touches her temples. It reminds Lian of the way he'd cradled her face, all those years ago, just before he'd told her that Daddy was never coming home.

The reminder makes her reply all the easier and more firm. "It's who you raised me to be."

There's regret around her guardian's eyes - perhaps for the weight of the legacy she bears, perhaps for the fact that he had to be the one to raise her - but it's brief, as it has always been. The lessons she has learned from the main Arrow influence in her life are too numerous to count, but when it comes right down to it, they can be boiled down to two simple things. One, wallowing in the pain never did anyone any good. Two, get over yourself, get up and protect the ones who need you.

She knows that Dad would have approved.

"Are you sure you want to do this _today_?" Tim asks. He's off to one side, watching Connor interact with her and planning his reactions accordingly. Then, that's been their child-rearing method to date; Lian supposes there's no reason for it to change this late in the game.

"It's the most appropriate day, don't you think?" she answers. "What better day to debut than the first day of Spring?"

Tim shifts, and though he is in costume, displays a definite Tim-like irritation. Wonder Woman has told Lian that there were times, back when Lian had her world ripped for the second time, that they had worried they were going to lose Tim beneath the burden of his legacy.

Tim says she and Connor saved him. Lian thinks that's very appropriate for the costumes they're both wearing.

"You usually have other priorities on this night," Connor says quietly.

"The minute I put a mask on, my priorities change," Lian answers with a shrug.

"Never forget." The growl in Tim's voice belongs to his costume, but the words are the sum of all the lessons he taught her boiled down to one.

She doesn't know if Uncle Dick would have approved, but she does know it's the same lesson he would have taught.

She also knows that she's _never_ forgotten. Three times every year since she was seven, she has visited the two graves in her grandfather's city. Daddy's birthday. Father's Day. The first day of spring.

Today will be the first time she hasn't visited Uncle Dick's on his birthday since he died.

But she has a reason for that. "I started training with you four years ago, on Daddy's birthday," Lian says softly. "This year, on Father's Day, was the first time I tried the costume on. Today has to be the day I go on my first patrol with you, Tim."

Under the Star City sunshine, the red and yellow tulips she would normally lay on his grave would begin wilting and turning brown long before Tim's patrol would be over. Going with him, on her first patrol at his side, is a tribute that will last far longer.

Tim doesn't look like he understands, and neither does her other guardian. "Please, Tim," she pleads. "Let me remember him ... remember _them_ the way you both taught me how. By giving them reason to be proud of me."

"You already do," Connor corrects sternly.

"Yes," Tim agrees. "But you have a point."

"Of course I do." Lian smiles, full of the warmth befitting her last name and her costume.

She wonders if smiles seemed as out of place in the Cave when they'd come from Uncle Dick.

"Are you coming with?" Tim asks Connor, and Lian knows it's as much a question of permission as it is a method of planning patrol.

"I don't think so." Connor brushes the sides of her mask again, before stepping away. "Your first patrol should be between the two of you."

Tim nods and glances down at her. "Are you ready?"

Yes. No. She hopes so. But she squelches the nervousness that suddenly appears in her stomach, now that she no longer has an argument to win with her guardians - and the suddenly very real possibility that she could completely let down the two men she still wakes up missing every day of her life - by routinely going over her weapon stash.

Every arrow remains securely in its quiver, neatly divided by normal arrows and alphabetized trick arrows. The daggers are locked in place on either side of her boots, one carefully laced with the kind of sleeping agent that would make her mother proud. Lastly, every pouch on her green utility belt is full. Lian gives her costume's matching emblem a quick caress before throwing back the shoulders of her red and gold suit and nodding. "I'm ready."

Tim says nothing in return, instead walking to the Batmobile and sliding into the driver's seat.

Lian gives one last wave to Connor before she follows suit, sliding into the passenger seat.

Once inside, she wonders if the Batmobile had seemed so large when Uncle Dick had been in her spot. But the question goes unasked as Batman and Robin depart the Cave, roaring into the Gotham night.


End file.
